http://provideocoalition.com/index.php en chris@crishdesign.com Copyright 2010 2010-07-31T18:00:31+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/drums_drummers_two_drum_loop_libraries/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/drums_drummers_two_drum_loop_libraries/#When:19:00:31Z This time around, we’re going to step outside our normal realm of song construction kits and review a pair of drum loop libraries to be used in combination with other melodic instrument parts that may have came with your music creation software or other construction kit packs. But even though the subject matter may be the same, the approaches these two collections take are very different. Audio 2010-07-31T19:00:31+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/big_fish_audio_club_hip_hop/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/big_fish_audio_club_hip_hop/#When:19:00:20Z This bargain-priced collection (list price: $49.95) from producer Mike Kumagai delivers an edgy take on hip-hop: The drums are lo-fi and slammin’ with an in-your-face filtered and gated kick; the synth basses are alternately reedy or squelchy; the keys, clavs, and strings are often shrill and urgent. The songwriting triggers thoughts of mutant funk with a pseudo-ethnic overlay. In other words, you’re not going to fall asleep listening to these tracks. Audio 2010-07-24T19:00:20+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/big_fish_audio_textured_beats/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/big_fish_audio_textured_beats/#When:19:00:13Z Some libraries try to give you a wide variety of flavors. Others have a strong consistent flavor of their own that permeates every kit or loop, frankly telling you “take me or leave me.” For what it’s worth, Textured Beats is one library I’ll take. So, what is that strong, consistent flavor? You may have heard the saying that writing about music is like dancing about architecture – which translates to you should go to Big Fish’s web site and listen to the demo file to make sure your tastes are the same as mine. To my ears, the beats here are a sleek synthesis of a rock feel with an electronica sound, utilizing a nice combination of programmed synthetic and acoustic sounds. Audio 2010-07-17T19:00:13+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/microphone_madness/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/microphone_madness/#When:01:24:15Z After recently adding some sound treatment to my new studio, I was curious to go back through my microphones to see which one sounded best on my voice in this new environment. I found that what sounded “best” depended on what I was playing the resulting audio through. I thought I’d share my results and observations with you, as well as solicit votes to see (hear?) what sounded best in your particular listening environment. Audio, Production 2010-07-15T01:24:15+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/big_fish_audio_hadeeth_2_arabic_rhythms/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/big_fish_audio_hadeeth_2_arabic_rhythms/#When:19:00:05Z Unlike the original Hadeeth collection that combined a drum kit with Arabic percussion, this collection (also produced by Ara Antranik) is a pure hand percussion affair. You get 66 construction kits, each containing a full mix plus three to eight individual instrument loops including the duff, mazhar, rak, tabla, sakat, tar, and duhollah (all percussive instruments) played by Haythm Blat. About two dozen different regional and traditional styles are represented, sometimes played at different tempi (ranging from 80 to 180 bpm) or with variations on the same theme. Audio 2010-07-10T19:00:05+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/zero-g_xfonic_soundsense_series/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/zero-g_xfonic_soundsense_series/#When:19:00:56Z With the SoundSense series, long-time sample library creator Zero-G gives us a different take on “budget” collections. Each DVD contains a collection of loops and individual samples – including in most cases a small but tasty assortment of song construction kits – in a particular electronica genre. These collections list for $59.95 each, and are distributed in the US by Sounds Online. Here I’ll review four of the SoundSense collections: Trance Inducer, Technomatik, Ambiosis, and Chilled Grooves. Audio 2010-07-03T19:00:56+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/sony_sound_series_platinum_theory_hip-hop/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/sony_sound_series_platinum_theory_hip-hop/#When:19:00:43Z This is one of the most inventive hip-hop sample libraries I’ve heard. Producer Henry Willis (aka lukecage) has crafted a set of 62 construction kits that show off the more experimental side of hip-hop, ranging from R&B to illbient. He’s taken a minimal approach to the art, providing 3-5 loops per kit that cover bass, beats, and additional melodic parts including a lot of piano. Audio 2010-06-26T19:00:43+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/big_fish_audio_primal_drums/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/big_fish_audio_primal_drums/#When:19:00:35Z Ah, yes: Books and their covers. Given the title and the evocative woodcut-style cover art by Nancy Nimoy, here I was expecting an African-influenced percussion collection. Instead, this library contains 50 construction kits well suited for a film composer or adventurous ethnic-hybrid producer, providing alternately lush cinemaesque landscapes and urgent chase sequences. Although heavily percussion-driven and indeed tribal in flavor, there are also several melodic parts both percussive and instrumental, plus massive “pads” (sustained chords and other musical textures) to fill out the compositions. Audio 2010-06-19T19:00:35+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/modern_rb_construction_kits/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/modern_rb_construction_kits/#When:19:48:32Z One side effect of the maturation of desktop tools has been that our clients and employers expect us to do more - for example, an editor is often expected to also do some motion graphics and sound editing; a motion graphics artist may be expected to come up with the soundtrack as well. Fortunately, several desktop-based sound tools - such as Apple’s GarageBand and Soundtrack Pro, Adobe’s Audition and Soundbooth, Propellerhead’s Recycle and Reason, Ableton’s Live (my weapon of choice), and Sony’s ACID Pro (the pioneer of them all) - make it easier for a doodler with a good ear to create a soundtrack out of a box full of sound snippets. These snippets usually consist of musical phrases that may be repeated (looped) or strung end-to-end (here’s a short primer how). These applications tend to ship with their own box of snippets; third parties also offer literally dozens of “music construction kit” sound libraries that contain collections of coordinated snippets which make it easier to create songs in specific styles. I rely on these myself, either using a construction kit to create a soundtrack in a style a client has requested, or mixing and matching between sets to create original compositions. For those who are new to this world, I’m going to share some reviews of construction kits I’ve encountered in hopes of helping you make informed decisions as to what might inspire your inner musical muse. Audio 2010-06-13T19:48:32+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/simple_soundproofing/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/PAC-Home/simple_soundproofing/#When:01:00:58Z We work at home. Our house has two levels; downstairs is half-jokingly referred to as “the studio complex.” We’ve set up one of the spare bedrooms down there as an audio room. Most bedrooms are boxes with parallel walls, which in turn often cause problems with resonances and echoes in a room. Fortunately, the spare bedrooms in this house have some non-parallel walls, which help break up and diffuse the pattern of echoes, which makes them less annoying. Adding more hard surfaces such as computer desks and monitors can increase the amount of diffusion, but sound is still bouncing around. The result is akin to the reverberation present in what one would call a “live small room.” As we use a microphone placed about a foot away from our head instead of a headset mic (to cut down on the distraction, and also pick up sounds such as the keystrokes and mouseclicks), it picks up some of this room sound as well. Although I personally like a little natural reverberation when I listen to a voice - completely dead rooms sound unnatural to me - a few have “commented on” the liveliness of the room sound in the voiceovers to our training videos, so I decided to see if I could tame the bouncing soundwaves a bit. I tried a cheap, low-tech approach first, then threw a little more money and work at it. I thought it would be fun to share my results: Audio 2010-06-07T01:00:58+00:00